DUBLIN (Reuters) – Irish manufacturing expanded in February for only the third month in the past year and at the fastest pace since mid-2022 following a jump in output and a rebound in new orders, a survey showed on Friday.
The AIB S&P Global manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for Ireland rose to 52.2 last month from 49.5 in January, having sat marginally below the 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction for most of the last 16 months.
The marked improvement in February was driven by a sharp increase in the sub-index measuring output to 54.5 from 50.9 in January, with employment also growing alongside new orders.
The survey’s authors said respondents put the increase in output down to a strong upturn in domestic demand, which offset a slight decline in new export orders due to softer UK demand.
However, respondents also faced longer delivery times and higher input prices due to the continued disruption to shipping routes in the Red Sea.
This helped drive the first increase in output prices for almost a year, while input costs also rose at the fastest pace in 12 months, though they remained well below the peak seen in May 2022.
Data on Thursday showed that Ireland’s annual inflation rate fell to a two-and-a-half year low of 2.2% last month.
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Susan Fenton)
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